Leaving Dalian

Thank you for everything. To all my friends there. Hope I can visit you again someday. I love you, my beautiful Dalian.

A Little Girl on the Bus in China

The bus has been clumped! There was only one seat near the spot where I was standing up, a woman with some stuff on her hand was going to take that seat. Suddenly, a little girl snatched the seat, then abruptly called her mother, "Mum, here, I got a seat here".

The woman just gave it up, and the little girl's mum was struggling to go through the clumped people, until she reached the place "booked" by the girl and sat down there with the girl on her lap.

***

So, why did I feel a bit weird about this situation? She is just a little girl though, who wants to present her mum a place to seat, ... but by snatching a seat from a woman with a lots of thing on her hands??? Is this nice little girl wrong?

Well...well..., this is another chaotic situation in China, I must say, I hate this condition. It makes me think, it must be very difficult to all Chinese, especially to young generation, to realise the motto of Olympic 2008, "Jiang Wen Ming", to make China to be a better "civilized" country.

Salute to all young generation whom I saw giving their seats to the elderlies, to the pregnant woman, to the woman with her baby!!! To all parents in China, do teach your children to be more civilized then!!!

Chinese Spirit Festival

Full moon (15th) of the month 7th, Chinese lunar calendar.

Chinese people burning the "hell money" for all spirit before 12 a.m. At the same time, I think it's a good opportunity to do the "Zoor practise", dedicated to the deceased one.

What to prepare:

1. plain flour
2. honey
3. yoghurt
4. melted butter
5. sugar

Mix all the stuff together, make a coarse dough (so don't put too much honey, yoghurt, or melted butter), don't make it too wet, then put them little by little on the burning charcoal. The burned dough has good aromatic smell which is believed to be the "good food" for all spirit.

May all spirit be happy

A Hope

On the small bus, sitting in the front of 2 high school girls. Then, giving their seats to two elderlies. A very "unique" event here in Dalian. Good sign for the present Chinese young generation. Very impressing me!

I love the blue of Dalian

GEO-ASTROPHYSICS: The Moon Effect

How often have you experienced an excessively unstable or uncontrolled emotion?

Geo-astrophysics, a multi-discipline combining earth science, astrology, and physics, may explain well this phenomena among living creatures on earth.

All creatures are significantly affected by the gravity of the moon. The moon is the closest gravity-exhibiting material to our earth. Hence, the moon's gravity affects most life on earth. This has been shown in some scientific research. How do coral reefs have a synchronous spawning in a certain lunar period? Why do mollusks, crabs, shrimps exhibit a peaking pattern on their abundance during the full moon period? And what about the howling behavior among wolves during full moon? ...

The body of living creatures contains a large amount of ion Fe (iron). The moon's gravity induces all ion Fe moving to the upper part of the body as it is pulled by the moon's gravitational magnetic field, for example: for human beings, ion Fe will be concentrated more around the head. This condition has been believed to be the main factor that affects emotional state among human beings.

Within our daily life, try to notice the date when you feel moody, sensitive, or any kind of such dramatic emotion; Is it near full moon or new moon? I myself noticed that some people in my surrounding exhibit such emotion mostly around these two lunar periods. The moon effect amplifies our emotional state, thus sometime we might emotionally unstable under high moon gravitational effect (see also my essay on Unexplained Uncomfortable Feeling). For example, someone who feels sad will be in deep sadness, also contrarily, someone who feels happy will be extremely happy. Another example, two persons who just become a new couple, they might think that any situation under full moon is very romantic, now why's that?... It's simply because the moon effect which plays this role!

The effect of gravity-resultant exhibitited by other space materials to earth.
The resultant of gravity will be maximum when the position among adjacent planets is in a straight line. The moon it self already has a strong effect to earth's living creatures, then what if this effect is enhanced by the resultant of gravity from other planets? Definitely, there will be much much greater effect in influencing living creatures, especially the emotional state of human beings. This has been indicated as follows:

• The climax of France Revolution in 1799 was when the position of all 9 planets forming a straight line.
• The demonstration by university students in Indonesia demanding president resignation also reaching climax when the position of the 5 nearby planets around earth forming a straight line in 1998.

-*-little comment-*-

I guess now I can see the idea why Taoism and Buddhism recommend non-monks practitioners not to eat meat on the 1st (new moon) and 15th (full moon) of lunar calendar. Apart from the spiritual reason, reducing the consumption of meat, a high iron-content food source, may also retain the amount of ion Fe being concentrated in our body due to the moon gravitational pull. Thus, we, as expected, may have a more stable emotional state.

When you feel such a dramatic emotion, then take a deep breath, exhale it freely, control your emotion, and have a look at your lunar calendar, then smile, as that mostly occurs around full moon or new moon, I BET!

dedicated to my late Professor Joko Purwanto

Eggs and Yin Yang

Yin represents feminine, cold, darker, and night

Yang represents masculine, hot, lighter, and day

Yin: Duck and Goose Eggs

Ducks and geese lay their eggs normally during the dark period, no sun shine, i.e. before sun rise, or after sun set, and at night time (based on interview to some farmer). They might lay eggs during the day but it is not often; and to some extent these "day light" eggs are considered less in quality as some people said that day light eggs from the duck or goose can not be used to make salted eggs.

The dark time period of laying eggs causes duck and goose eggs absorb Yin energy. Thus, duck and goose eggs have Yin energy. No wonder some Chinese people said that eating duck or goose eggs is better, healthier than chicken eggs for male. The explanation might be related to the concept of balancing nature, which are simply duck/ goose eggs (Yin) and the male body (Yang).

Yang: Chicken Eggs

Hens lay their eggs during the day, hence chicken eggs have more Yang energy. Better for female.

Fresh Eggs?

If you boil some eggs, you want to know whether eggs you boiled were fresh ones. Simply break and peel the shell, if some white part of the egg is still attached to the shell, then this egg is a fresh one.

Tips: if you wanna peel boiled eggs and wanna get a perfect smooth surface of an egg, just after boiling, put eggs into cool water, wait until these eggs get cool, then you can easily peel them and get smooth surface of each egg.

Be Cautious with the Flight Time Schedule in China

Flight delay might be common, but what if the flight schedule has been changed earlier?

This what has happened to me in Dalian airport. I arrived at the airport just by the time I've estimated to get the 10.50 am flight to Beijing. However, when checking in, they were rushing me to get quick to the gate.

I just realised that my flight was a transit flight from Hainan to Beijing (of course! as it flew from Hainan). Yet, they can't change the schedule without any notice in advance though. (well...well... it's China...!%$#%#@).

There's another lady who arrived at the same time with me rushing into the same plane. Both of us running to the gate as referred on the boarding card. But... there was no plane at that gate, we're a bit panicky. But then the security told us that our plane has been waiting in another gate, I think it was the next 3 gates to this one (WHAT THE...!!!#$%$%). We made it, getting into the plane. The plane took off about 15 minutes earlier from the time referred in my ticket itinerary... Can you believe that!... Just a little bit, I would lose my ticket again due to getting left by the plane, as it has happened to me once before.

So, just to be cautious! especially if you are going to take a transit plane in China; Go to the airport much much earlier, that will be good.

The Art of Cooking

Sharpening Taste

Cooking is such a relaxing activity, it's really fun! Some people worries if their cooking tastes not good. To me, it's just a matter of training sensoric nerves of my tongue to make my cooking tasty.

Less MSG

Some people always adds more, or sometimes too much MSG or chicken stocks to sharpen the taste. Forget all of this stuff if you want to be healtier; Use a combination of sugar and salt instead.

Pay attention to texture

Another important point is, you need to know which part of the material you must put first into your cooking pan. This balances the texture of a cooking, especially in a mixed-stuff dish. For example cooking a stir fried veggies, you don't simultaneously put all veggies into your hot frying pan. Carrot is more massive compared to spinach, then put carrot earlier and stir it till tender then you mix it with spinach.

Hope that helps, and let's cook! ^^

Three Great Bodhisattvas

An inspiration from Lama Temple, Beijing. Reminding me with a portrait on the wall in my dad's chanting room

From left to right: Samantabhadra - Avalokitesvara - Manjushri

Samantabhadra – Pǔ Xián Pú Sà (普贤菩萨)
Boddisattva of compassion/great activity
Seated on: six-tusked white elephant
Attributes: lotus and Sutra

Avalokitesvara – Guān Yīn Pú Sà (观音菩萨)
Boddisattva of mercy
Seated on: dragon, or (often) lotus
Attributes: white vase and bamboo

Manjushri – Wén Shū Pú Sà (文殊菩萨)
Boddisattva of wisdom
Seated on: lion
Attributes: sword (symbol of the sharpness of wisdom to cut through illusion)

Earth is My Home

Anywhere I live, as long as I enjoy and feel comfortable there, that would be a place called home for me.
About 6 days I have stayed in my aunty's family in Beijing. Everyday I walked around Jianguomen, the diplomatic compound where my aunty lives, got back there after enjoying my whole day trip exploring each site of Beijing on my own. I must admit it that I enjoyed staying in this vicinity, not to mention the warm atmosphere in my aunty's house.
Thus, leaving Beijing, I felt a kind of "sad" feeling. Funny, I just stayed there not for long. I guess, leaving one place, no matter how long you have stayed there, there must be this kind of "uncomfortable" feeling. Eventhough I have dealt with this several times, yet I expect that I can deal with this better and better. I supposed to get used to with it though, leaving one place where It has been part of my soul already.
To be honest, I don't really like this kind of feeling, neither does anyone I believe. At the present time, I am also worrying to deal with such feeling for leaving Dalian in the next couple days. I have to leave my friends, my new community that I have built since the beginning I came. Come what may, life must go on. Hence, what I need to do now is to enjoy the rest of my time as good as possible, time with good quality to spend with my friends here in Dalian.
Being an adventure-lover, moving into a completely strange new place, will be an exciting experience. There you have to start making friends, selecting people to be part of your community, doing socialisation...it's all so exciting. But from this point, there must be also a time to say good bye. Leaving your friends, leaving a place which you have considered home. Anyway, this "uncomfortable" feeling, soon or later, will be over, I hope.
Some thoughts of mine: Anywhere you go, try to make it as comfortable as you can. Expand your friendship, build your community, so you can enjoy living in one new place, as any place on this earth is our beautiful home.

My cell phone, can I turn it on now?

Preparing to take off, a guy around 20ieth I guess, was sitting beside me. He asked me whether or not the cell phone must be turned off. I said. you must turn it off. As my spoken Chinese was not good enough to explain how the phone signal may interrupt the navigation system, I just told him with a very simple Chinese politely. He got my point though. He eventually turned his phone off.

We started talking, from this point I knew that he came to Beijing to take a part in a car competition, now heading back to Dalian by plane because he can't get a ticket for the train due to peak season, just the same reason as mine. In a short pause, he suddenly made a comment, "Well, I think it's supposed to be OK now to turn on the phone as we have already taken off".... No, I said. I tried to explain that some plane accident might occur due to navigation failure because of signal disturbance caused by some forgetting to turn the phone off. Then, his response was just nodding his head while putting back his phone into the bag.

I was just wondering, what if there was a lot of people having the same thinking as his that turning on cell phones inside the plane was not a big deal. Hmm, good that he and I had a talk! The plane landed in Dalian Airport at 1 a.m.

Tuning Your Character to Compromise for A Better Life

We have to be wise to deal with anything in our life. We have to make a smart bargain, a good deal in any matter. I believe, compromise is one of the important key to have a better life. But, how far can we compromise?

Priority, situation, and condition are some reason for us to compromise. For example: X and Y are two generous persons. They like to help anyone who needs help. X is a too-generous person. X can easily give all his money without any consideration to someone who urgently needs a financial help. X simply thinks that giving his money to this person will lessen his burden. On the other hand, Y considers too many priorities in donating his money. Yet, Y is still keen to give donation to help others.

I notice that around us, there is quite a lot of generous people like X and Y. Here, I just want to suggest to all my friends:

1. whose personality type is like X; Too-generous type of person can often have a problem for him/her self, particularly in managing his/her own money. This type of persons need to be more careful in deciding what to do with their own money. Careful consideration on priority is necessary.
2. with Y type of person; Do not overly consider too much unnecessary details. It might discourage your good purpose to help the person who urgently needs your hands.

So, just have a 5 minutes to introspect your self,

• Which type of person are you? X or Y? too-generous? too much detail? perfectionist? selfish? never give any donation?
• After realising what type of person you are, try to tune your character! Not too much neglect on your own need, nor contrarily, too much unnecessary details to consider to do generous thing. Try to be as balance as possible.

>>><<<

May everyone be well and happy. Let's tune our character!

Mapo Tofu

This dish was invented by the wife of Chen Senfu (陈森富) from Sichuan. His wife had a pock-marked face; in Chinese called mazi (麻子), hence everyone called her Chen mapo (The wife of Chen with a pock-marked face).

Chen (陈)=the family name of the husband
ma (麻)=pock-marks
po (婆)="madam" or "the wife of..."

As she was the one who created the tasty tofu dish, also the appearance of the dish itself looked like having pock marks, that's why the dish was named after her: Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐), the pocked-marked tofu.

Tofu, the History

Back to Han dynasty in China, at this period, Taoism (道教) was very popular where almost everyone practised this teaching. The teaching mentions about living life in balance, by not disturbing mother nature, not killing animals; and being a vegetarian was believed to be the way to have a long life.

Liu An (刘安), the king in this era, whose grandfather was a Taoist, used to have his maid to make "long life" foods for his grandpa. At this time, grounding was one of the techniques to process food. There was a time, an amount of soy bean by accident felt down into the grounder. The maid kept grounding until a layer of curd had appeared. Realising that soy bean was the cause of the curd, the maid reported this thing to the king. The maid cooked this curd and let the king to taste. Apparently he liked it. Since then, this curd or TOFU, has been widely introduced to the all people in China.

Classic Chinese Nick Name for Kiddies

In the previous time in China, most parents, especially among villagers, called their kids with "silly" nick names which mostly took an animal name; "dog" (gou-狗) was the most often used as a nick name. For example: gou danr (狗蛋儿), gou shengr (狗胜儿), sha genr (傻根儿), er leng zi (二愣子), hu zi (虎子), etc.

The reason why parents called their kids with such an unusual (or I should say, inappropriate or weird) name was that parents believed if the name of their kids sounded too good to hear, then "the sky" above (referring to the God and Goddess, occupants of the sky) and "hell" down to the earth (referring to all evil spirit, the occupant of hell), both side want to take the spirit of this kid, thus the kid will die.

In contrast, if the nick name sounded not too good to hear, then neither the sky and hell want the spirit of the kid. Thus, the kid can live his/her life well, grow fast, safe and sound.

Chinese Habit: Drinking Wine

“感情深，一口闷；感情浅，舔一舔”

"deep friendship one shot; shallow friendship drinking little by little"

(according to Chinese role when having a toast)

Glass position during the toast: the glass belongs to the younger person must be lower than the older person

However, if you realize that you are not a good drinker, while your Chinese host keeps offering you to have another toast (ganbei), then you can say: 随意 (suí yì ) which means refusing politely to have another toast due to a particular reason, for example you've got headache already.

Gentleman, to be or not to be? A Chaotic Phenomena in China

Here some experience about "chaotic phenomena" I've had during my one year stay in China.

Problem with queueing

• At the bus stop where there is no queueing line. Soon after the bus comes, no matter what, just try to get as fast as you can to get into the bus. No need to worry about who the person is behind you, no matter an elderly or an old woman with lots of shopping bags in her hands. No need to give lady first. Just keep pushing your body into the bus, otherwise you'll regret!
• Queuing in the supermarket cashier. The problem here is mostly dealing with the old women and grannies. They just don't know how to queue, or I must say that they pretend to stand up beside the queue and not from the back, just by any chance, to intrude the queue. Here dealing with this situation, you must strictly tell her, "Queue from the back!" Such an old woman!

Hospitality only to the one you know

Someone got into the bus faster and he got a seat already. While an old granny or grandpa standing beside him, no more seat left, he just didn't care about it, kept enjoying reading his messages and playing with his cellphone.

He might offer his seat to his girl friend only (or his colleague only), while the old person is, "Not my problem, I don't give a damn"... ^#%#^%$!!

An "equality" to speak up among male and female?

Yes, by showing that they have the same right to have a quarrel inside the hospital. Can you believe this??? At that time, I was having an infusion in a room with other patients. Then a young male around 20ieth, who was apparently to be a patient, suddenly had an argue with a woman. It was such a sharp loud annoying voice inside the hospital, screaming each other between him and the woman for about 30 minutes, pointing finger directly towards the face of each other. GREAT! I guess all patient will get well very soon!

***

Would all above phenomena happens only in an overly populated country like China? I used to have a discussion with my Chinese friend. Well, he said: big population, hard economic condition, pushing all people to do the law of "who is fast, who is successful". Of course as the positive consequence, this situation makes all Chinese successful to run a business. Lots of Chinese carry on a business successfully due to "fast working" attitude to any aspect.

However, the impact were all chaotic phenomena above. All people want to be fast in such wrong chaotic ways: intruding a queue, entering the bus sarcastically, and so on.

First time in China, I tried to give way to an elderly to enter the bus. However, other persons from behind started complaining me telling me to get faster! and I got pushed from the back.

***

I am just wondering how this phenomena can be reduced. The Olympic Games 2008 will be held in Beijing. Now, all TV stations in China advertise how to be a "civilized culture" to welcome foreigners for the Olympic Games. The sequence of advertisement shows how to give way, how to be patient to queue, how to be a gentleman, how to care about each other. But, is it possible with huge numbers of people to reach such an ideal condition? I guess it's very difficult.

However, I hope through the Olympic Games 2008, there will be an improvement to be a more civilized culture, a less chaotic phenomena. Even if only a little closer change to the advertised-like ideal situation, it will makes the condition in China much much better. I do hope the coming Olympic Games 2008 will open their mind, will raise a more "gentleman" attitude through their self awareness. Then China will be a much better country!

>>><<<

Dedicated to Naneto, many thanks for teaching me the "attitude"

Chinese Language: Screaming, Whining, or Too Expressive?

It might strongly be related to culture, the way of life, that Chinese language becomes so expressive. Simply one syllable from one Chinese character to describe one thing. But yes, each syllable has 1 out of 4 different tones. So, no wonder if you hear someone talking in Chinese, your first impression maybe:

• Chinese people love to scream out loud
• sometimes it sounds too whining

Yes, 4 different tones, especially the fourth tone (sharp accent), requiring more energy to pronounce it well. So, can you imagine when this language is used in a debate? sounds like screaming each other huh?(in China it does happens often). How about during a quarrel or scolding someone (mum to her kids!)?

Another thing, the combination of 4 different tones dramatises the situation like in a soap opera conversation. For example, when someone feeling hurt, they often express it in the following ways:

1. aiya, aiya ... teng, hen teng (ouchh, ouchhh .... hurt, very hurt)
2. aiya ... teng si wo le (ouchh ... hurt me till I die)

While in English, usually is enough with one expression "ouchh" . Therefore, to be so expressive using Chinese language, I must say, has been part of every Chinese, including Chinese descendant who was born in other country, no matter what language they speak, still you'll notice such a "screaming and whining" expression on their spoken language.

Now I can understand why, when my mum criticizing me, sounded very overwhelming. The way she talks is strongly affected by her mother tongue, the Chinese language. Now I am in China, almost anytime I heard a mother criticizing her naughty kids, it recalls my own memory, it is just the same as how my mum speaks. Maybe when I was kid I was not used to with it because I didn't grow up in such environment where every parents screaming out loud to their kid. At least, now I can understand why my parents were different from others in the way of criticizing me and my brother. Yes, the "Chinese Language Effect"... But, one thing I realise, is that any parent has the same purpose, to teach their children to be better and not to let their kids re-doing the same mistake.

My Family Reunion

I guess the setting was in the early of 1990ies. Not a beautiful place for a food court though, in contrast, the place looked like a parking area. But I remembered, My dad, mum, my bro and I just had finished our meals there. My dad was smiling, didn't speak anything, my mum was talking to someone about her relatives. Then after finishing our meals, I was teasing my brother about the meals we had. He was talk active when he was a little kid. My mum just laughed at us. We were walking away from that court. We're such a happy family!

Many thanks for the most short beautiful morning dream I just had, knowing that will never happen again. I love you all!

Bloody kampungan "I want to take a picture"

Another Chinese habit "kampungan!"

I joined a group tour to Tian Men Shan. While enjoying the scenery, suddenly someone said to me "Can you move a little bit there? I want to take a picture". It's like saying "Get out! You are ruining my picture!"

Geee! if he just wanted to take some pictures, just take it! Why should disturb other people, just take whatever the condition was. It really pissed me off. Can you imagine while enjoying the view, then someone asked you to go away! for what? just to take his picture. Bloody selfish!

I've noticed almost all Chinese everywhere, when taking pictures, always want to be only themselves inside their picture, no matter what the situation is, including in such a high crowd. But yet, you can't be so selfish like that though! Asking other people to leave like that!

Really such a disturbing behaviour!

Aweto

or in Chinese called 冬虫夏草 (dōng chóng xià cǎo), translated as: winter worm summer grass. Its life stage has been clearly stated on its name: during winter it is an insect, during summer the grass grows.

As today I visited Tian Men Shan (a range of beutiful mountains), lots of local people sold these insects. It costs you 1 RMB to buy one dried insect. They said, just soak them in a bottle of wine. Drink this wine is good for your health (at least that's what they said to me). Well, I'm just amazed with this creature, half animal, half plantation, cool!

Voice of China

Each countries has different way to imitate the voice of nature. Here follows the expression of voice that Chinese people can understand:

1. dog: 汪汪 (wangwang)
2. cat: 喵 (miaow)
3. cock: 喔喔喔喔 (wuwuwuwu...)
4. hen: 咯咯咯咯嗒 (gegegegeda)
5. chick: 叽叽 (jijijiji)
6. cow: 哞 (muuu)
7. sheep: 咩 (mieee)
8. frog: 呱呱 (guagua)
9. tiger: 嗷呜 (aouwww)
10. heavy rain: 哗 (huaaa)
11. shower rain: 滴答滴答 (didadida)

Laughing mode

哈哈哈: haha
吼吼吼: houhou
嘿嘿嘿: heiheihei
呵呵呵: hehehe
嘻嘻嘻: xixixi (bad-intention laugh)

Hungry mode

咕噜噜: gululu
咕咕叫: gugujiao

Terms: Addressing Your Relatives

Dad's/爸爸(bàba)的
father: 爷爷 (yéye)
mother: 奶奶 (nǎinai)
elder brother: 伯父 (bófù ); 大伯父, 二伯父, ... *there is no "小" 伯父 here!
elder brother's wife: 伯母 (bómǔ); 大伯母/大妈, 二伯母/二妈, ...
younger brother: 叔叔 (shūshu); 大叔, 二叔, ... , 小(老)叔
younger brother's wife: 婶婶 (shěnshen); 大婶, 二婶, ... , 小(老)婶
elder/younger sister: 姑妈 (gūmā)/姑姑 (gūgu)/姑母 (gūmǔ); 大姑, 二姑, ... , 小(老)姑
elder/younger sister's husband: 姑父 (gūfu ); 大姑父, 二姑父, ... , 小(老)姑父

Mum's/妈妈(māma)的
father: 外公 (wàigōng)
mother: 外婆 (wàipó)
elder/younger brother: 舅舅 (jiùjiu); 大舅, 二舅, ... , 小(老)舅
elder/younger brother's wife: 舅妈 (jiùmā)/舅母 (jiùmǔ); 大舅妈, 二舅妈, ... , 小(老)舅妈
elder/younger sister: 姨 (yí ); 大姨, 二姨, ... , 小(老)姨
elder/younger sister's husband: 姨夫 (yífu); 大姨夫, 二姨夫, ... , 小(老)姨夫

Elder brother's/哥哥(gēge)的
wife: 嫂子 (sǎozi); 大嫂, 二嫂, ... , 老嫂
son: 侄子 (zhízi)
daughter: 侄女 (zhínǚ)

Younger brother's/弟弟(dìdi)的
wife: 弟妹 (dìmèi); 大弟妹, 二弟妹, ... , 小(老)弟妹
son: 侄子 (zhízi)
daughter: 侄女 (zhínǚ)

Elder sister's/姐姐(jiějie)的
husband: 姐夫 (jiěfu); 大姐夫, 二姐夫, ... , 老姐夫
son: 外甥 (wàisheng)
daughter: 外甥女 (wàishengnǚ)

Younger sister's/妹妹(mèimei)的
husband: 妹夫 (mèifu); 大妹夫, 二妹夫, ... , 小(老)妹夫
son: 外甥 (wàisheng)
daughter: 外甥女 (wàishengnǚ)

My son's/儿子(érzi)的
wife: 儿媳妇 (érxífu); 大儿媳, 二儿媳, ... , 小(老)儿媳
son: 孙子 (sūnzi)
daughther: 孙女 (sūn nǚ)

My daughter's/女儿(nǚ'ér)的
husband: 女婿 (nǚxu); 大女婿, 二女婿, ... , 小(老) 女婿
son: 外孙子 (wàisūnzi)
daughter: 外孙女 (wàisūn nǚ)

My wife's/妻子(qīzǐ)的
father: 岳父 (yuèfù)/老丈人 (lǎozhàngren)
mother: 岳母 (yuèmǔ)/丈母娘 (zhàngmǔniáng)

*Brothers and sisters from my wife’s family are considered to by my own brothers and sisters.

elder brother: 大舅子 (dàjiùzi), 二大舅子, … /大舅哥 (dàjiùgē), 二舅哥, … , 小舅哥
elder brother's wife: 嫂子 (sǎozi); 大嫂, 二嫂, ... , 小(老)嫂
elder brother's son: 侄子 (zhízi)
elder brother's daughter: 侄女 (zhínǚ)

younger brother: 小舅子 (xiǎojiùzi); 大小舅子, 二小舅子, ... , 老小舅子
younger brother's wife: 弟妹 (dìmèi); 大弟妹, 二弟妹, ... , 小(老)弟妹
younger brother's son: 侄子(zhízi)
younger brother's daughter: 侄女 (zhínǚ)

elder sister: 大姨子 (dàyízi); 大姨姐 (dàyíjiě), 二姨姐, … , 小(老)姨姐
elder sister's husband: 姐夫 (jiěfu); 大姐夫, 二姐夫, ... , 老姐夫
elder sister's son: 外甥 (wàisheng)
elder sister's daughter: 外甥女 (wàishengnǚ)

younger sister: 小姨子 (xiǎoyízi); 大小姨子 (dàxiǎoyízi), 二小姨子, … , 小姨子
younger sister's husband: 妹夫 (mèifu); 大妹夫, 二妹夫, ... , 小(老)妹夫
younger sister's son: 外甥 (wàisheng)
younger sister's husband: 外甥女 (wàishengnǚ)

>>>Getting more and more complicated with addressing your Chinese relative? Do NOT have such a big family then!!!

Terms: Love Status

• 大龄青年 (dà líng qīng nián): haven’t got married while according to his age, he has supposed to get married already
• 单身贵族 (dān shēn guì zú): still enjoy to be single
• 单相思 (dān xiāng sī): one-sided love
• 暗恋 (àn liàn): unrequited love, loving someone but she/he doesn’t know about it
• 黄昏恋 (huáng hūn liàn): romance for the elderly
• 三角恋 (sān jiǎo ài): triangle love
• 一见钟情 (yí jiàn zhōng qíng): love at first sight

Chinese Adage and Some Classic Thoughts

• 不怕一万就怕万一: not afraid of any difficulty but afraid of one unexpected problem
• 一朵鲜花插在牛粪上: beauty and the beast
• 刀子嘴豆腐心: sharp in words but actually a soft hearted person
• 接风洗尘: welcoming dinner
• 鸡蛋里挑骨头: someone who loves to find unnecessary problem
• 高不成低不就: wanting only such an ideal job but doesn’t match own capability
• 一年之计在于春，一日之计在于晨: a good starting is very important
• 千里姻缘一线牵: through one opportunity getting together
• 不当家不如柴米贵: if you never deal with it, you’ll know nothing about it
• 立于不败之地: never get failed
• 上有政策，下有对策: there's always a way to trick a disadvantageous policy

Classic Chinese Thought Regarding Female Position

• 嫁出去的姑娘泼出去的水: losing a daughter who has been engaged and she will never return home again, like throwing water onto ground, can’t return back again
• 嫁鸡随鸡，嫁狗随狗: a lady, who has been married, must follow and obey her husband, no matter the husband is a good or a bad person (in that era in China, the girl would had never met with her future husband. It was the parents’ task to find their daughter a husband)
• Female must follow the “三从四德”

三从 includes:

1. 在家从父: at home she must obey parents
2. 出家从夫: out of home (get married), she must obey the husband
3. 夫死从子: husband has passed away, she must obey the son

四德 includes:

1. 妇容: must pay attention to outside appearance (polite appearance)
2. 妇言: must pay attention to the way she talk
3. 妇德: must pay attention to attitude
4. 妇工(红): must pay attention to her duty (as a good house wife)

Stronger than Almond Essence, Deadly as Poison

Do you know if the seed of any peach has a very strong aroma of almond extract?

Break the shell of the seed, you'll see the white part inside. Break the white part. My friend, Tom, told me only to smell it, not to taste it! He said that It contains high concentration of cyanide, a very poisonous substance... Well, I tasted it (but of course didn't swallow it). True, it has very strong scent of an almond extract, even much stronger than almond itself.

I've tried to see whether any similar kind of fruit have that strong aromatic almond extract. My conclusion, plum and apricot do!

Aknowledging：Tom Osborne (my colleage at JCU)

New Protein Sources

Centipede "lipan" Satay

Taste: like shrimp barbeque
Use: antitoxin, good for skin disease (that's what the Chinese said)
Price: 10 yuan/stick

Thai Scorpion

Taste: a little bit like a fried "tongkol" fish!
Imported from Thailand
Price: 8 yuan/stick

Chinese Scorpion

Taste: better than the Thai ones
Price: 4 yuan/stick (3 scorpions)

Cicada Satay

Taste: unique to this insect
Price: 5 yuan/stick
This insects were collected around Dalian area. There are heaps of Cicada around this month. Chinese people call it zhīliǎo (知了). If you take a walk in the park where there are lots of trees, then you can hear the specific noisy sound produced by this kind of insect. That's why Dalian people also call them as mīmīgǎ (咪咪嘎), which its translation means cackling sound.

an adult cicada
Location: Tianjin Street. Dalian

Menu for Dinner Today: Starfish

How to cook? just steam it